Becoming used to becoming middle aged? Ruminations on my trail run

Saturday, June 01, 2013

I ran a 10-K trail run this morning on our local E. Idaho "mountain." It was a great experience - temps in the 50s, wildflower season, running up and around woods and maintaining reasonable form and pace (finished in 1:00:29). This drew a good crowd, 3 dozen people - interestingly at least 60% women, I'd guess, showing the evolving demographics of trail running - and was a fine start to the day and the weekend.

Later I shared with my wife that I was probably the oldest person there at the ripe age of 52. Then I realized that I had felt perfectly comfortable saying that, even a bit proud of the fact. Yesterday (May 31) marked my 31st anniversary of my college graduation. So yes, I keep track of my moving into middle age status. I'm now firmly in what the track categories nicely label the "Masters" group. And I guess I'm fine with it. Probably this is because I'm actually healthier, fitter, and stronger now than I was in my 40s, or possibly ever in my life, given the changes in diet/nutrition and the more focused discipline of running I've adopted in the past few years. This is encouraging as I look toward the future. I'm esp. conscious of the need to be proactive in staying fit/healthy because my workplace colleagues in my cohort are increasingly showing signs of deterioration - physical, and in some cases emotional (dealing with diabetes, high blood pressure, heart problems, and sadly, getting crabby, caustic, or depressed, and set in their ways).

My family has joined the local track club for the summer and three times a week we practice with mostly high school, middle school, and a good number of elementary schoolers. In the distance running group I'm definitely the oldest participant and work hard to keep in contact with the high school runners, and a 7th grade girl! Last week I tried, and failed, to pass my teenage daughter doing intervals - the torch has definitely been passed to the new generation. And I still love it. I hope to be doing this for a long time to come.

Well, if you got this far, thanks for hanging with these somewhat rambling impressions. Here's wishing health and happiness to you too.

WINDSURFNERD
Good for you for keeping a youthful outlook! I believe that's one of the primary benefits of getting fit and staying active. I'm 52 years old and I feel as strong or stronger than 20 years ago...THAT's one powerful time machine! :)

I'm lucky that I live where I can run with folks near my age (and older even!) as well as the younger folks. They inspire me just by being there (and esp. when that 60 y/o kicks my butt!)!! Sometimes I'm the oldest, but I'm hardly ever the slowest, and I can outlast many younger runners ;-)Naomi1221 days ago

ABETTERSOUL
I definitely am in the "middle age" catergory, but I also am probably in the best shape physically since high school. Here's to you my fellow middle aged friend and way to go on keeping healthy!1285 days ago

WOUBBIE
I'm not in the best shape of my life (YET!), but I'm certainly feeling the best I've ever felt. If it weren't for my lousy sinuses (yes, probably allergies that I chose to ignore) and varicose veins I'd say I have no health problems at all. That I can feel, anyway.

At 55, I'm rather surprised at how comfortable I am with my age and condition. My cognitive functions are not what they used to be, but my understanding of issues is SO much better than before. So I take longer to analyze a situation, but am more likely to come to the right conclusion in the end.

So here's to us "Masters"! Maybe we can all be like this guy:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/gameon/2013/02/25/worlds-oldest-marathoner/1946619/1286 days ago